Door safety control



United States Patent 3,063,517 DOSR SAFETY CONTRQL Joseph H. Borden, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Toledo Scale Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Mar. 21, 1960, Ser. No. 16,486 4 Claims. (Cl. 18752) This invention relates to new techniques of detecting objects in the closing paths of doors.

The new techniques of detecting objects are particularly well suited for detecting objects in the closing paths of doors in elevator systems. Heretofore, object-detecting devices on doors in elevator systems have been generally unsatisfactory. Many of such prior devices have been mechanical devices which are carried by the edges of the doors that are the leading edges during closing of the doors. These mechanical devices are quite complicated and expensive, and are apt to require considerable servicing in the field. Others of such prior devices have been electrical devices which also are carried by the edges of the doors that are the leading edges during closing of the doors. These electrical devices are able to sense only objects in the closing paths of the doors that are located horizontally opposite to such devices and it is, therefore, either necessary to employ an impracticable number of such devices or else run the risk that some objects, such as a mans arm thrust into an open elevator doorway, will not be detected and, hence, that objectionable collisions will occur.

It is, accordingly, the salient object of this invention to provide new techniques of detecting objects in the closing paths of doors.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door in an elevator system with an improved object-detecting system.

More specific objects and advantages are apparent from the following description of several specific embodiments of the invention.

The invention may be more readily understood from the following detailed description of several specific embodiments in which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is a simplified schematic view of an elevator car in a shaft with the doors partially opened and with the landing doors and their equipment not shown for the sake of simplicity and which incorporates the objectdetecting system; and

FIG. II is an enlarged view of one of the elevator car doors shown in FIG. I showing a modification of the object-detecting system.

The following description and the accompanying drawings are to be taken as illustrative of the invention but are not to impose limitations on its scope.

Elevator car doorways and hoistway or landing door entrances usually are equipped with laterally sliding doors. The doors may be either of the center opening type, in which the doorways are at the centers of the car and hoistway entrances and pairs of doors slide apart in opposite directions to open the doorways, or they may be of the side opening type, in which the car doorway is at one side of the car and the hoistway entrances are at one side of the hoistway and one or more doors slide to the other side of the car and hoistway to open the doorways. Side opening doors usually are in pairs, one of the doors of each pair traveling at twice the speed of its companion door so that, while a pair of doors can close a doorway the width of which is nearly two-thirds of the width of a car or hoistway, they overlap when open to occupy slightly more than one-third the width of the car or hoistway. Alternatively, freight elevator doors often meet along a horizontal line. 1

Patented Nov. 13, 1362 Referring to FIG. I, an elevator car 1 is guided, according to the usual practice, by hatchway rails 2 running vertically along the sides of the hatchway and engaging guide shoes 3 attached to the car 1. The car is supported by cables 4 running up the hatchway to drive equipment, not shown.

The elevator car 1 is equipped with door operating mechanism 5 that includes a pivoted lever 6 connected through a link 7 to a first door 8 and through a second link 9 to a second door 10, the doors being of the side opening type. Since the distance from the fulcrum of the lever 6 to the links 7 and 9 is diflferent the travel of the doors 8 and it) is also'different. This allows the doors to overlap each other in open position and close in slightly overlapping position to close the entire rectangular door-opening or doorway of the elevator car 1. The fast moving car door 1d carries a pair of rollers 11 in position to embrace vertically extending vanes (not shown) one of which is fixed to each hatchway or landing door (not shown) of the side opening type. There are a plurality of landing doors and .a plurality of vanes which are embraced by the rollers 11 during travel of the elevator car 1. The rollers 11 and their mounting means are conventional and, therefore, are shown in more or less schematic fashion in FIG. 1. Whenever the elevator car 1 reaches a hatchway entrance from either direction and the car door opening is in registry with the landing door opening, movement of the fast moving car door 10 carries a roller 11 against the Vane that is fixed to the landing door so that the landing door moves to the left, as viewed in FIG. I, in unison with the car door 10.

Referring to FIG. I, it is assumed that the elevator car has stopped at the landing, the doors 8 and 10 being shown in their partly open positions. The door 10 is provided with an object-detecting system 2121 which controls the door operating mechanism 5 and senses the presence of an object in the closing path of the door in sufiicient time to stop or to stop and reverse the door before an objectionable impact can take place between the door and the object. The object-detecting system 21b includes a flexible tube 33 attached to the leading edge of the car door it it being understood that the object-detecting system 21b can be used interchangeably on either car doors or landing doors. Within the flexible tube 33, which functions to protect the object-detecting system 21b against dust, are stationarily mounted a light source 22b, a condensing lens 23b and a photocell 26b, light being projected substantially vertically through the tube along the leading edge of the door onto the photocell 2611. The light source 22b and condensing lens 23b form a radiation transmitter means or source for projecting radiant energy. Engagement of an object in the closing path of the car door 10 with the flexible tube 33 kinks or deforms the tube breaking the beam of light therewithin. Photocell 26b is operable while the door is both open and closed for controlling the door operating mechanism in accordance with the transmission or the non-transmission of light from the transmitter means to the photocell 26b, the flexible tube 33 being so received in a groove 36!) in a door jamb 34 that it is not deformed while the door is closed. Photocell 26b forms a radiation receiver or energy responsive means and controls the door operating mechanism 5 in accordance with the transmission or the non-transmission of light from the radiation transmitter means to such photocell, the photocell being in electrical circuit with the door operating mechanism causing such mechanism to stop or to stop and reverse whenever the beam of light is broken.

Prior radiant energy transmitters and receivers become inoperative in a dusty atmosphere and at best must be cleaned constantly because energy receivers, such as 3 photocells, are quite sensitive'to variations in light intensity. In contrast, the components of the object-detecting system 2.1!) are enclosed in the flexible tube 33 as a protection against dirt.

A modification of the object-detecting system 21b is illustrated in FIG. 11. Similar reference numbers in FIG. I and in FIG. II refer to parts which are alike in structure and in function. The object-detecting system 21b (FIG. I) is exactly like the modified object-detecting system 21c (FIG. 11) except that whereas the system 21b. includes the flexible tube 33 attached directly to the car door 10 the system 210 includes a flexible tube 33c attached to a retractable member 35 carried at one side of the leading edge of the door 10c. When the door Us is fully open or fully closed, the member 35 is in a retracted position with respect to the door tile. The object-detecting system 210 remains sensitive to objects in the closing path of the door for all positions of adjustment of the member 35 with respect to the door and for all positions of the door itself.

The retractable member 35 is mounted for retraction on the doorrlllc by means of a first arm 5i! which is connected to the door by a pivot 51 and to the retractable member 35 bya pivot 52 and a second arm 53 which is connected to the door by a pivot 54 and to the retractable member 35 by a pivot 55. The retractable member 35 has an extended cam 56 which is shaped like a born. The cam 56 is engageable with a roller 57 made of yieldable material such as rubber and which is free to turn on a pivot which is rigidly connected to the car frame. The lower arm 53 is extended backward in order to support a roller 58 mounted for rotation on the arm 53. The roller 58 is engageable with a stationary cam 59 which is shaped like the cam 56. An adjustment spring 60 is connected between the door and the lower end of the upper arm 56. Movement of the door We to the right, as viewed in FIG. II, engages the cam 56 and the roller 57 to retract the member when the door is closed. Movement of the door 100 to the left engages the roller 58 with the stationary cam 59 to retract the member when the door is open.

The foregoing door protection can be used with standard door control techniques such as are disclosed in US.

Patent No. 2,758,676 issued August 14, 1956 to W. A.

Nikazy.

Various modifications in details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having described the invention, I claim:

l. The combination of a doorway, a door for the doorway, door operating mechanism, a flexible member carried by the leading edge of the door and defining an elongated space, radiation transmitter means for proiecting radiant energy through the elongated space, and radiation receiver meansfor controllingthe door operating mechanism in accordance with the transmission or the non-transmission of the radiant energy through the elongated space.

2. The combination of a doorway, a door for the doorway, door operating mechanism, a flexible member carried by the leading edge of the door and defining an elongated space, the doorway defining a space for so receiving the flexible member while the door is closed that the flexible member is not deformed while the door is closed, radiation transmitter means for projecting radiant energy through the elongated space, and radiation receiver means for controlling the door operating mechanism in accordance with the transmission or the non-transmission of the radiant energy through the elongated space.

3. The combination of a doorway, a door for the doorway, door operating mechanism, a retractable member carried by the leading edge of the door, a flexible member carried by the retractable member and defining an elongated space, a source for projectingenergy through the elongated space, and energy responsive means for controlling the door operating mechanism in accordance with the transmission or the nontransmission of energy through the elongated space.

4. The combination of a doorway, a door for the doorway, door operating mechanism, radiation transmitter means enclosed in a flexible member for projecting radiant energy along the leading edge of the door, and radiation receiver means enclosed in-the flexible member for controlling the door operating mechanism in accordance with the transinissionor the nontransmission of the radiant energy from the transmitter means to the receiver means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Drexler Sept. 20, 

